Ministry of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sport of Ukraine

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCES, YOUTH AND SPORT OF UKRAINE

TERNOPIL NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

UKRAINIAN-DUTCH FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT

Business Communication and Organizational Behavior Department

COMPLEX PRACTICAL INDIVIDUAL TASK REPORT

Discipline: Organizational Behaviour

Group: ______

Student’s Name______

Supervisor: N.V. Batryn

Ternopil –2001

The field of organizational behavior (OB) draws from the behavioral science disciplines of psychology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology. The areas on which OB focuses are individuals who will often be working within groups, which themselves work within organizations. OB is as much a practical set of tools as an area of theoretical interest. The Complex Individual Practical Task includes different excersises, which are easy to follow and perform. You are to complete the missed terms or phrases in the tables and charts (hand-writing), check (circle) true or false answers, find out the definitions of terms (put down the number of the term near the definition), and write down the “Case-Study” answers (do not copy the case-study, but type the answer).

TASK 1.

Complete the missed terms and phrases.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN CHARTS AND TABLES.

Complete the missed terms and phrases.

OB Division.

1.1.Organizational Components

TRUE–FALSE TEST.

1 / Organizational behaviour is a comprehensive field of study in which individual, group and organizational structure is studied in relation to organizational growth and organizational culture. / TRUE / FALSE
2 / There are absolutes in human behaviour. / TRUE / FALSE
3 / The value system, emotional intelligence, organizational culture, job design and the work environment are important causal agents in determining human behaviour. / TRUE / FALSE
4 / Study of organizational behaviour is based on scientific methods, which have been applied on human beings. / TRUE / FALSE
5 / Managing technology is not an important job of any management. / TRUE / FALSE
6 / Leaders must understand human behaviour as to why people behave in particular manner and try to identify reasons so that corrective actions can be taken. / TRUE / FALSE
7 / Management of processes and its inter-dependence is not very crucial to high productivity and higher job satisfaction. / TRUE / FALSE
8 / Nothing dismotivates workers worse if you give them their entitlements in full and train them to take up higher jobs. / TRUE / FALSE
9 / Management of change, development of organizational culture, designing and redesigning of jobs, and various organizational development strategies are required to be undertaken by leaders for organizational effectiveness. / TRUE / FALSE
10 / While external environment relates to various personnel policies and corresponding managerial actions, the internal environment relates to cultural, social, legal, and governmental rules and regulations that should be taken care of / TRUE / FALSE

DEFINITION TEST

1 / Psychology / It is an applied science, which attempts to explain human behaviour in a particular situation and predicts actions of individuals.
2 / Science of Sociology / It studies the impact of culture on group behaviour and has contributed to a large extent to the field of group-dynamics, roles that individual plays in the organization, communication, norms, status, power, conflict management, formal organization theory, group processes and group decision-making.
3 / Social psychology / It is a subject where concept of psychology and sociology are blend to achieve better human behaviour in organization.
4 / Anthropology / It is a field of study relating to human activities in various cultural and environmental frameworks.
5 / OB / It is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and organizational structure have on behaviour within the organization.
6 / Organization / It is a system of co-operative activities – and their co-ordination requires something intangible and personal that is largely a matter of personal relationships.
7 / Macro OB / It is a pre-occupation with the ‘‘organization’’ in organizational behavior.
8 / Micro OB / It is a pre-occupation with the ‘‘behavior.
9 / People / They are the main component of any organization that has to be managed.
10 / Informal organizations / Organizations that do not have a specified structure.

TASK 2

Complete the missed terms and phrases.

1.1.Factors in Organization.

1.2.Organizational goals

1.3.Categories of Resources.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF AN ORGANISATION

2. TRUE–FALSE TEST

1 / Organisations come in all forms, shapes and sizes. / TRUE / FALSE
2 / The difference between the formal and the informal organisation is a feature of the degree to which they are managed and controlled. / TRUE / FALSE
3 / Public sector organisations are created by government. / TRUE / FALSE
4 / The formal organisation cannot exist independently of the membership of particular individuals. / TRUE / FALSE
5 / The operating component comprises managers and analysts, and is concerned with supervision and co-ordination. / TRUE / FALSE
6 / Policy is developed within the framework of objectives. It provides the basis for decision-making and the course of action to follow in order to achieve objectives. / TRUE / FALSE
7 / Objectives may be just implicit but the formal, explicit definition of objectives will not help highlight the activities which the organisation needs to undertake and the comparative importance of its various functions. / TRUE / FALSE
8 / The formulation of objectives and policy, and the allocation of resources, provide the basis for strategic planning which is the first stage in the planning and control processes of business organisations / TRUE / FALSE
9 / Strengths are those positive aspects or distinctive attributes or competencies which provide a significant market advantage. / TRUE / FALSE
10 / Weaknesses are those positive aspects or deficiencies in the present competencies or resources of the organisation, which limit its effectiveness and which need to be corrected or need action taken to minimise their effect. / TRUE / FALSE

DEFINITION TEST

1 / Organizations / Social constructs created by groups in society to achieve specific purposes by means of planned and co-ordinated activities.
2 / non-human resources / Physical assets, materials and facilities.
3 / Human resources / Members’ abilities and influence, and their management.
4 / Top management / Management which is concerned with broad objectives and policy, strategic decisions, the work of the organisation as a whole and interactions with the external environment.
5 / Middle management / Management whichis concerned with co-ordination and integration of activities and providing links with operational support staff and organisational support staff, and between the operational core and top management.
6 / goal model approach / The approach thatconcentrates on the study of organisational goals and the measurement of success against the realisation of goals.
7 / ‘mission’ / It is a general expression of the overall purpose of the organisation, which, ideally is in line with the values and expectations of major stakeholders.
8 / ‘vision’ / It is the desired future state of the organisation, and an aspiration around which to focus attention and energies of members of the organisation.
9 / Opportunities / These are favourable conditions and usually arise from the nature of changes in the external environment.
10 / Threats / These are the converse of opportunities and refer to unfavourable situations which arise from external developments likely to endanger the operations and effectiveness of the organisation.

TASK 3.

Complete the missed terms and phrases.

Bases of Power.

Sources of Power.

Organizational allocation of power.

Techniques of Political Plays

TRUE–FALSE TEST.

1 / Political behaviour is designed and initiated to create opposition or resistance. / TRUE / FALSE
2 / Power is derived from the official position one holds / TRUE / FALSE
3 / Power cannot be enjoyed by the people having charismatic personality. / TRUE / FALSE
4 / Structural power is related to a job a person does. / TRUE / FALSE
5 / Power, authority and responsibility are inter-related / TRUE / FALSE
6 / Managers can improve their importance by delaying decision making and creating power centers. / TRUE / FALSE
7 / Machiavelli has suggested various techniques of manipulating power. / TRUE / FALSE
8 / Politics is about access to power. / TRUE / FALSE
9 / When setting up of organizational goals, departmental objectives and individual task are well defined. / TRUE / FALSE
10 / Internal environment is highly mobile and generally unpredictable. / TRUE / FALSE

3. DEFINITION TEST

1 / Power / It is derived from the official position held by an individual in an organization.
2 / Politics / It is a process whereby power is acquired and used to influence behaviour of others.
3 / Power / It is a multifaceted concept, which has been analysed from interpersonal influence process, as a commodity to be traded, as a type of causation and as an issue in the study of values and ethics.
4 / Machiavellianism / Theory described by Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian philosopher who has formulated a set of behaviour for maintaining political power.
5 / Politicking / It refers to acting in self-defence, self oriented where people defend their ego by employing tactics which is called ‘game playing’.
6 / Manoeuvring / It is distinguished by the sense of personal inequity where conscious decisions (choices) are made in different situations.
7 / Political awareness / It is generally referred to the extent a person is able to understand and interpret the political behaviour in the organization.
8 / Expert / Power which derives from knowledge. Sometimes called sapient authority, this is power based on an acknowledgement of others expertise e.g. Physician.
9 / Coercive power / The power to punish or reward, the power to threaten and to use one’s position to force others to take action.
10 / Legitimate power / The power which is exercised in accordance with organizational rules.

TASK 4. CASE-STYDY

COOL PRODUCTS

Mr. Vasudev is a general Manager of Cool Products, a company dealing in production and distribution of packed condiments in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Co. was established in the year 2000 and has been performing well. Over the past five years the Co. has introduced excellent production processes, quality control, established its own distribution network, and has been able to achieve good consumer response for the products they manufacture and distribute. The company is a market leader in the state of M.P. Seeing the success of the business, the management has decided to expand the same in the state of Rajastan. They have identified Kota as the place for establishing production unit. The head of the unit will hold the rank of GM. The post is tenable by marketing or production manager since the job involves skill of productivity and marketing. The management has invited you to select a person to head Kota unit. The management have handed over to you profiles of two managers. Mr. Varun is production manager, and Mr Avinash is the marketing manager. Both are working with Cool Products since its inception. You as a consultant, required to select one of them. You do not have personal knowledge about them and have to take the decision based of their write-ups only. The write up of the managers are as under.

Mr. Varun Tyagi

Mr Varun is a mechanical engineer passed out from MACT Bhopal (now MANIT). He has about 10 years of service in food preservation industry. Prior to this appointment he was working with ‘Pare Masala’ a famous condiment manufacturer of Pune. Varun is hard working, sincere, honest and a dependable engineer. He is foresighted, technically sound and can work independently under stress and strain. He had been able to handle employee grievances in the present organization successfully to the satisfaction of employees and management has been critical about the decision he had taken on their behalf. He enjoys good rapport in the Industry and has been consultant to couple of industries in the state of MP and Maharashtra. He is straight forward and goes by the rule of law when in difficulty. He has a pleasant personality and workers fall back on him when in difficulty. Varsha-his wife is a nursing graduate and works in one of the private nursing homes. Families of employees, very frequently consult her and she therefore enjoys personal influence over the families of ‘Cool Products’. Mr Varun has been able to complete his targets of production every year and has been contributory factor for the growth of the Co.

Mr. Avinash

Mr. Avinash Kale belongs to Nagpur and comes from farmers’ family. His father was a poor man and taught his only son with a great difficulty. Avinash has done MBA from IMS Indore in the year 1996. His performance in academics has been excellent. He stood first in IMS among the marketing boys that year. Mr Avinash is very calculative and thinks ten times before taking any decision. He evaluates the pros and cons of the issue at hand before proceeding further. He is very professional and keeps his sales team on the tender hooks and ensures monthly sales at any costs. He is hard task master as it relates to his * Case prepared by Prof. V.G. Kondalkar, HOD, VNS Institute of Management, Bhopal (M.P.) job and can bend either way if situation so demands. He is very obedient and keeps the tag of management move, their daily schedule and any important event that is likely to take place. People in Cool Products say that Avinash knows everything in the organization before it is formally announced. He is considered to be a management man. He implements instructions of the management in letter and sprit. He maintains distance from workers and is not interested beyond the task he is supposed to do. But the task he does well and therefore he is liked by higher ups. One may say he is a task oriented leader. He is a smooth sailor, a diehard salesman, visionary, opportunist, a soft spoken executive who never hurts anyone in his dealings, a tight rope walker. He has good communication skills. He has been recently married to a lady who is employed as Assistant Sale Tax Officer in Bhopal. She belongs to state provincial services cadre. She also has a bright career as she is a topper in her batch.

Read the case carefully and carryout analysis. In the light of various theories you have studied, what type of leadership style Mr. Varun Possesses.
What type of leadership style Mr. Avinash has. What is the strength of his personality?
As a consultant would you like to meet them before you take a decision, if so why.
Who is your Choice as a GM of Cool Products, Kota?

TASK 5. CASE–STUDY

Balchandra belongs to an economically backward family. He is the only educated member of his family. With much difficulty he could complete his matriculation, earning the credit of first matriculate in the family. His approach and behaviour can be seen as subjected to his economic handicap. Though he has a little inferiority complex and is a little introvert, he is hard–working. At the age of 22 he has joined a public sector organization as a junior clerk. While in service, he has completed intermediate, B.A. and M.A. He has then been promoted to the post of a senior clerk. Being ambitious, he has expected to get a better promotion. Hence he worked hard. He took a management diploma also. All the four unions in the organization have asked him to join their unions, which he did not take heed. Hence all the union leaders are unhappy with him, while his colleagues have a jealousy. He has been sincere and hard working. Though he has not joined any of the unions, he has tried to keep moderate relations with all of his colleagues. However, the union activists and some of his coworkers have kept some sort of grudge and whispered against Mr. Balchandra. Considering the hardworking nature and additional qualifications, Balchandra has been promoted to a junior executive position. But as soon as he took charge the union leaders have protested against the promotion. They have interpreted it as an incentive for not joining the union. As a result of their strong protest, the promotion order is cancelled within a week. It was a great blow to Balchandra. Earlier he was working with the Research & Development Dept., which was according to his liking. But after being reverted, he has been placed as a senior clerk in the Accounts department, where his supervisor has been one of his strongest critics. Moreover, he did not like accounting work; and he could not get job satisfaction in the new position.

His adversaries have rejoiced, while he lost interest. He started showing disinterest in the work, and has become irregular in attendance. Gradually, he become disgruntled and moody, and started absenting frequently. Accounts section supervisor has not waited to call for explanations of Balchandra a number of times, which adversely affected his morale. He lost hopes and applied for causal leave for three days, he left the office without waiting for the sanction of the casual leave. He did not care to report back for duty even after three days. The Accounts section supervisor and other union leaders have promptly approached the personnel manger on the 15th day of his absence with a detailed note of the case and a recommendation from the Accounts Departmental head to serve a show cause notice on Balchandra, to conduct a departmental enquiry and to finally remove him from service. The union leaders have persuaded the Personnel Manager to promptly act on the recommendation of the Accounts Dept. Head. Some of Balchandra’s friends have informally reported the matter to his family, which is perturbed too much because Balchandra is the sole bread-winner of the family. A detailed analysis of the line of events throws light on group behaviour, interaction of individual and group behaviour, morale and job satisfaction of Balchandra in the context of the line of events, group dynamics, conflict between individual goal and group goal, lack of cohesion and its reasons, etc.

We shall also consider the questions like:

Is there anything wrong with Balchandra?
Which are the various groups with which Balchandra is associated?
Can we remark that the behaviour and approach of the various groups have been correct?
What would be the appropriate action on the part of the personnel manager in the particular situation?

TASK 6. CASE-STUDY

MR. ALOK BANARJEE

Mr. Alok Banarjee is the Chief Executive of a medium- sized pharmaceutical firm in Calcutta. He holds a Ph D in Pharmacy. However, he has not been involved in research and development of new products for two decades. Though turnover is not a problem for the company, Mr. Banarjee and his senior colleagues noticed that the workers on hourly basis are not working up to their full potential. It is well known fact that they filled their days with unnecessary and unproductive activities and worked only for the sake of a pay cheque. In the recent past the situation has become quite alarming as the organization began to crumble under the weight of uneconomical effort. The situation demanded immediate managerial attention and prompt remedial measures. Mr. Banarjee knew very well that the only way to progress and prosper is to motivate workers to peak performance through various incentive plans.